a quick language question
hi all,
I was on Mewtwo's profile page reading its rating explanation and came across something I couldn't quite understand towards the end of the first paragraph: "Rather than breaking the game, Mewtwo weighs heavily upon it."
How would one interpret the meaning "weighs heavily upon it"? Can the word "weighs" be substituted with "depends"? As in "Rather than breaking the game, Mewtwo depends heavily on it." I've checked online dictionaries, only to find that "weighs heavily upon (sb)" is a phrasal verb meaning to oppress or burden. To translate it as "Rather than breaking the game, Mewtwo burdens it." sounds rather strange.
My apologies for asking a rather trivial language question on this forum. English not being my native tongue, I still enjoy tremendously the articles that are posted on this site. The raid boss counters guide have been especially helpful.
Thanks.
Answers
"Breaking a game" is usually figuratively referring to an object or mechanic that is so overpowered that it ruins any balance from costs or counters. (Something "game breaking" can also more literally be something that stops a game from working all together.)
By context, "weighs heavily upon it" is probably meant to say that it pushes the limits, but not far enough to ruin anything too badly.
I'm guessing this is in the context of Mewtwo's base stat nerf. If Mewtwo had been released with its previous base stat calculations, it would have been the top counter for just about every fight. After the base stats were cut by 9%, it is still one of the best counters when it has a type advantage, but falls a little lower on the list of top attackers when it doesn't have a type advantage.
Breaks the game: Mewtwo is so powerful that no other pokemon is worth mentioning any more because Mewtwo is better in all cases.
Weighs heavily upon the game: Mewtwo should be considered in nearly every matchup as a viable and possibly superior option regardless of type advantage. Having access to Mewtwo(s) allows great flexibility in all aspects of battling.